OK I'm thinking of drinking coffee in the morning to help me avoid soda, and I'm taking about buying a bag or can at the store not going to 7-11 and such. But haven't brought coffee from the store in awhile and don't remember the brands and types I liked.

So I'm asking for help here. What are your favorite brand and types of coffee? Which ones to avoid, as I had the cheap no name brands before and they tasted horrible.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite coffee, but I do really enjoy the Member's Mark Colombian Supremo beans from Sam's Club. The price is really good and it's pretty good coffee. I prefer beans from some of the local roasters in my area, but that gets expensive. I do believe that grinding your own beans makes better coffee than buying pre-ground, though.

"The danger lies not in the machine itself but in the user's failure to envision the full consequences of the instructions he gives to it." --Neil Stephenson

I do the pre-packaged K-cups these days since I lack patience to brew it in the mornings. I need that caffiene quickly to get going My go-to's are the Gevalia signature blend, Paul Newman's special blend and Dunkin Donuts. I like Kona varieties as well.I agree Starbucks is overated and seemed too bitter to me.My wife uses the Keurig adapter to make her own K-cups with other ground varieties. Fresher aroma/flavor but again takes time to fix the custom K-cup.

Specialty roasters will usually beat the hell out of anything you find in the grocery store. I would recommend a shop around here, but they only do wholesale and over-the-counter.

If you're planning to drink it black, I'd strongly suggest trying a variety to see what you like. There are dozens of varietals, and they can be roasted differently sometimes. A blend is a mix of grounds from two or more varietals. Almost all grocery store brands are blends.

Each brand has its own recipe, and the issue is mostly what suits your palate. For comparison, look at Tanker27 who hates both Folgers and Maxwell House, and then consider that I prefer Folgers when I can't get good coffee---but I probably hate Maxwell House more than he does.

The "color" of the roast just refers to how it is "cooked"---darker being more well-done. Dark roasts tend to have a more pronounced burnt or bitter note. Lighter roasts tend to have more subtle flavors, and they may be more appealing if you are not adding dairy and sugar. Most places will roast beans to roughly the same level. E.g., Brazilian Cerrado coffee is usually a dark roast, but sometimes a roaster will do a medium-dark.

Anyone who thinks dark roasts are inherently better or more hardcore is an idiot. That idea seems to float around, and I have no idea why. Drink what you like.

I go with Trader Joe's for regular coffee beans, specifically a Honduran medium roast. That's just my preference, though - they have a ton of different varieties, and I tried most of them before settling on a default. All are fine. I go with a local roaster for decaf, because it's the only decaf I've found that doesn't suck.

If you have the extra few minutes in the morning, I find grinding my own beans really does taste better than grinding them in the store, or buying them pre-ground. The first few cups won't be all that different, but the grounds will be stale by the time you get to the end of the can/bag.

Also another recommendation for an AeroPress - it's cheap, simple, and makes excellent coffee.

You K-Cup people disgust me. Not only is the coffee that generally emerges from those things awful, but those cups are amazingly bad for the environment. I'm not trying to take this into R+P or an environmental discussion, but not only can you have better coffee (without much more effort) and you can save the world a tiny bit too. C'mon, you're better than that.

Just find some good beans that you can buy near you that you like and stick to 'em. There are likely a ton of options at the grocery that will work, and I imagine you can find a local-ish roaster that makes their own stuff.

Find a place that roasts locally. There is a HUGE difference in flavor when it's fresh. Dunn Brothers is a fairly common chain that roasts its own. Find a region of bean and a roast you like there and then buy that. Also, I'm cheap and use a coffee press with a reverse osmosis water system I installed.

My go-to is the McCafe (McDonald's) brand sold at Wal-Mart. They sell it in the large canisters, which is an exceptional value compared to the smaller bags. I get the medium roast (red can) and the breakfast blend (yellow can), usually. In addition to having a good flavor, the grind is coarse enough to be perfect for a French press.

My other go-to is Gevalia Colombian...again, something you can get off the shelf at Wal Mart.

Finally, though I am not a Star Bucks guy, I enjoy their Veranda blend (blonde roast). It's another light roast, so it doesn't have that trademark "we over roasted the shiat out of the beans" Star Bucks thing going against it.

I tend to get whatever is on sale at the grocery store. I often end up with Community Coffee, which I find to be pretty decent. I would say that the best coffee that I've bought is probably Gevalia, but it's rarely cost competitive.

As a side note, I find myself exclusively buying whole bean coffee now. I use the grinder they have at the store and create a finer grind than normal. I find that this creates a stronger coffee using the same amount of beans.

What are your favorite brand and types of coffee? Which ones to avoid, as I had the cheap no name brands before and they tasted horrible.

I'm not in the US, so I'm not sure any brands I say are going to be available to you. I'm pretty sure if it comes in a jar you should avoid it though.

I get mine from a local shop on a run-down backstreet of Camden, London. Amazing, tiny kiosk run by the same old man since 1978. Just sells coffee beans roasted in a traditional machine that must be half a century older than him. I'm not a coffee snob but his Santos Dark Delaney is my absolute favourite.

If you're not one for taking time over your coffee, you can't go wrong with a French press (or cafetière) and whatever sealed bag of ground coffee your local stores sell. Brand doesn't matter so much as the beans origin, so just find a region you like; I'm fond of Columbian / Costa Rican / Kenyan. Just don't buy anything from a massive conglomerate like Nescafe, Maxwell House, or Lavazza. If you have to go for a brand, Illy isn't too bad but you're better off just finding some responsibly-sourced organic fairtrade stuff. Not for hippy/ethics reasons (those are a bonus, too) but mainly because they won't be full of chemicals.

Grab yourself an airtight jar to store the beans in between brews and you're done - making a coffee this way is barely more work than instant crap from a jar or tub, but SOOOOOO much nicer.

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I'm not in the US, so I'm not sure any brands I say are going to be available to you. I'm pretty sure if it comes in a jar you should avoid it though.

I get mine from a local shop on a run-down backstreet of Camden, London. Amazing, tiny kiosk run by the same old man since 1978. Just sells coffee beans roasted in a traditional machine that must be half a century older than him. I'm not a coffee snob but his Santos Dark Delaney is my absolute favourite.

Wot, a Brit that drinks coffee on the reg? Send me some tea Chrispy.

Chrispy_ wrote:

Grab yourself an airtight jar to store the beans in between brews and you're done - making a coffee this way is barely more work than instant crap from a jar or tub, but SOOOOOO much nicer.

Yup. Once you know what you're doing and have all the gear, making coffee from beans every morning is barely more work and time than some low-quality garbage I've already mentioned, among other types.

For Keurig, we drink the Victor Allen's medium roast because we can get it for $0.25/cup at Woodman's (Wisconsin grocery store)

We don't drink drip coffee anymore since we have a keurig, but I put this as an option because this opens you up to the wide selection of pre-ground coffee. We like to sample a variety, but we steer clear of Foldgers/Maxwell. I actually have an Aero Press, which brews much better hot coffee than drip or keurig IMO.

For French Press / Cold Brewed / Espresso / etc, you're now looking at the whole bean coffee because those types of brewing require coarser or finer grind respectively than your typical keurig/drip coffee. That gives you two options, most grocery stores have grinders in the coffee aisle for customers to grind the local roasted stuff (fill your own bag), and/or you can buy your own grinder if you prefer to buy pre-bagged whole bean stuff or not use the store grinder (I'm not sure how often those things get cleaned).

And yes, my experience has been that the locally roasted coffee beans are better tasting than pre-bagged whole bean which is better tasting than pre-ground.Also, light or medium roast coffee tends to be less bitter so it's a bit easier to drink black.

There are many brewing styles. As I mentioned, my wife and my current options are Keurig, Aero Press, French Press, Cold Brew. All have their pros and cons in terms of brew/prep time and flavor. You can also get into nuances like water filtering, various grinders (burr vs blade), etc etc etc. The list goes on. My wife primarily drinks Keurig, but she's usually looking for something quick before she leaves for work in the morning. I like the Aero Press and Cold Brew. I only like hot coffee in the morning, after that I like iced/cold brew. Cold brew is my morning preference because it's ready to go, and I'll do Aero press on the weekends or if I have 10 extra minutes in the morning.

You K-Cup people disgust me. Not only is the coffee that generally emerges from those things awful, but those cups are amazingly bad for the environment. I'm not trying to take this into R+P or an environmental discussion, but not only can you have better coffee (without much more effort) and you can save the world a tiny bit too. C'mon, you're better than that.

Just find some good beans that you can buy near you that you like and stick to 'em. There are likely a ton of options at the grocery that will work, and I imagine you can find a local-ish roaster that makes their own stuff.

Agreed. Every time I have a cup from a Keurig, it tastes like plastic to me.

But if I'm in a hurry, most households in the UK have a box of this stuff, called "builder's tea" and it's just regular black tea in a disposable bag. To be made with a healthy splash of actual milk, not that godforsaken creamer or other crap - don't forget to dunk a biscuit in it, too.

For the (off-topic) record, wars have been fought over the claim of best dunking biscuit, but I will battle anyone who disagrees with the almighty custard cream:

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but not only can you have better coffee (without much more effort) and you can save the world a tiny bit too. C'mon, you're better than that.

Yes, you can and no, I'm not. A K-cup isn't an ideal storage or transport medium for coffee but it happens to be a very good brewing device, since it operates under slight pressure.

My personal coffee cupboard at the office includes a pour-over, a French press, an Aeropress, and other well-used paraphanelia along with a rotation of fresh beans from a local roaster, but for fast brewing of an afternoon pick-me-up cup that's cheaper and faster than the Starbucks down the street, a K-cup works.

Yes, you can and no, I'm not. A K-cup isn't an ideal storage or transport medium for coffee but it happens to be a very good brewing device, since it operates under slight pressure.

My personal coffee cupboard at the office includes a pour-over, a French press, an Aeropress, and other well-used paraphanelia along with a rotation of fresh beans from a local roaster, but for fast brewing of an afternoon pick-me-up cup that's cheaper and faster than the Starbucks down the street, it works.

You ARE better than that (you say so yourself), but only when you want to be for some reason. Which is fine I guess. It just doesn't make sense to me.

but not only can you have better coffee (without much more effort) and you can save the world a tiny bit too. C'mon, you're better than that.

Yes, you can and no, I'm not. A K-cup isn't an ideal storage or transport medium for coffee but it happens to be a very good brewing device, since it operates under slight pressure.

My personal coffee cupboard at the office includes a pour-over, a French press, an Aeropress, and other well-used paraphanelia along with a rotation of fresh beans from a local roaster, but for fast brewing of an afternoon pick-me-up cup that's cheaper and faster than the Starbucks down the street, a K-cup works.

You can alleviate some of the concerns (particularly environmental ones) with a reusable filter like this. We have one, and I've used it some, but I usually end up with a few grounds in the cup. Something ground more coarsely might be a better fit.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

You can alleviate some of the concerns (particularly environmental ones) with a reusable filter like this. We have one, and I've used it some, but I usually end up with a few grounds in the cup. Something ground more coarsely might be a better fit.

Doesn't pressurize, though. The brew time of a Keurig is wrong without the pressurization, and IME the grounds tend to be under-extracted. I've thought it would be fun to design a reusable K-cup that relies on silicone seals top and bottom, but never had the right business connections to make it happen.

DancinJack wrote:

You ARE better than that (you say so yourself), but only when you want to be for some reason. Which is fine I guess. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Easy: I don't place a special significance upon the material content of a K-cup, and I've noticed that people who are antagonized by them always compare the worst result of a K-cup against the best-case result of a 12-cup pot or something. But the K-cup also happens to be fast and inherently portion-controlled. It might replace a trip to Starbucks and a disposable cup, or it might replace a 12-cup office pot where 2/3 of the pot is left unused, burns, and gets poured down the drain.

Not that I'm an expert coffee roaster or anything, but freshness(generally time since roast) is, by far, the most single important factor in coffee quality (unless there is something seriously deficient with your beans..). Freshness starts to drop off precipitously after a 2 to 3 weeks and coffee is generally stale by the 5th or 6th week. From that point on, you go from stale to rancid (as the oils in the beans go bad). If the coffee is ground, it goes stale in a matter of days. Most coffee you can get in store is a couple of months since roast (direct orders from mail order or local roasters excepted).

I know this makes me a coffee snob, but most people who say they don't like coffee have only had stale, or even rancid, coffee.

My favorite source of green beans is Sweet Maria's in Oakland, CA. I try to get an order in when ever I am able to get something shipped to the US, as shipping coffee the extra few miles across the border to Canada is abhorrently costly. But at least there is no TX or duty on unroasted coffee beans!

I mean...yeah, all depends on how deep you want to go. You CAN get local, fresh-roasted beans, grind it yourself, then brew in a French press. Or you CAN go the cold brew route (which you should consider if you want lower acidity). But if you're looking for something simpler...

Basic Drip: Dunkin Donuts. At least that's what I settled on after bouncing around a bit. Pricing isn't too bad if you're only doing 1-2 cups a day.

K-Cup: San Francisco Bay. I like these because they're partially biodegradable, ad the Breakfast Blend is pretty good.